Crete: Tragedy with 22 dead migrants – Two arrests

The tragedy involving 22 dead migrants occurred off the coast of Ierapetra, Crete.

According to the coast guard’s statement, on Thursday (26/3) during the afternoon, the authorities were called to assist in the rescue of a boat in distress. According to testimonies, 26 people had been at sea for six days without food or water.

According to the survivors, 22 people lost their lives due to the harsh conditions and, following the instructions of the traffickers, their bodies were thrown into the sea.

Two people, aged 19 and 22, both from South Sudan, were arrested as human traffickers.

The statement from the coast guard:

On 26-3-2026, the Coast Guard Authorities of Ierapetra and Kalo Limenes were notified by the Unified Coordination Center for Search and Rescue (E.K.S.E.D.) of the Hellenic Coast Guard, to assist a boat in distress carrying foreign nationals in the sea area 52 nautical miles south of Ierapetra.

A FRONTEX vessel was the first to reach the area, where it found the inflatable boat and rescued twenty-six (26) foreign nationals (24 men, 1 woman, and 1 minor). They were transferred with the help of the “ELENI” launch to the port of Kalo Limenes. The survivors were then escorted by Special Mission Unit officers and members of the Faistos Police Department to the port of Heraklion. Two of the survivors were taken by ambulance to the University General Hospital of Heraklion and the Venizelios General Hospital for medical treatment.

According to the migrants, the boat departed from the Tobruk area of Libya on the night of 21.03.2026, heading to Greece. As revealed during the preliminary investigation, the boat initially carried a total of forty-eight (48) people. During the journey, the passengers lost their orientation and remained at sea for six (06) days without food or water. According to the survivors, 22 people died from the hardships, and their bodies were discarded into the sea as instructed by one of the traffickers.

The migrants paid amounts of 1,000,000 Bangladeshi Taka, 10,000 USD, and 12,000 Libyan Dinars for their transportation to Greece.

The Central Port Authority of Heraklion, which is conducting the investigation, identified two foreign nationals (South Sudanese citizens), aged 19 and 22, as the human traffickers and arrested them for violating Article 83 of Law 3386/2005 (“Illegal Entry into the Country”), Article 25 of Law 5038/2023 (“Facilitation”), and Article 45 of the Penal Code (“Cooperation in the Commission of a Crime”), as well as violating Articles 45, 306, and 302 of the Penal Code (“Murder by Negligence”).